Announcing the Survey Results, Shri Naidu described Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh followed by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as the Movers and Shakers for having significantly improved their rankings from that of the Survey conducted in 2014 before the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission in October, 2014.

Swachh Survekshan conducted in 2016 covered 73 cities with over million population each besides capital cities.

In Swachh Surekshan-2017, all the cities surveyed in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand have substantially improved their rankings over that of 2016 and 2014. Gujarat did so in respect of all cities excepting Rajkot and similar being the case in respect of Chattisgarh except Bilaspur.

In Telangana, only two cities have dropped in rankings this year while it happened in respect of four cities in Andhra Pradesh.

Of 14 States that were represented in the Top 50 clean cities, Gujarat accounting for 12, followed Madhya Pradesh-11, Andhra Pradesh-8 and one each from Chandigarh, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh.

25 towns from Uttar Pradesh are ranked among the bottom 50 cities with followed by Rajasthan and Punjab with five each, two in Maharashtra and one each from Haryana, Karnataka and Lakshadweep.

Varanasi has however, improved its rank from 418 in 2014 to 32 this year to become the Fastest Big City Mover in the North Zone.

Faridabad in Haryana has improved its rank from 379 in 2014 to 88 this year and has been awarded for being the ‘Fastest Mover’ among cities with a population of above one million each.

37 lakh citizens provided feedback on cleanliness in 434 cities and towns accounting for about 60% of the total urban population in the country.

38 cities were awarded including the Top five clean cities at the national level, cleanest cities and fastest movers in different zones in 5-10 lakh and 2-5 lakh population categories.

Swachh Survekshan: Know More

Swachh Survekshan-2017 aimed at capturing the outcomes on ground of the ongoing efforts to make urban areas Open Defecation Free.

It also seeks to improve door-to-door collection, processing and disposal of Municipal Solid Waste.

Of the total score of 2,000, 900 marks were assigned for performance in respect of ODF and solid waste management, 600 marks for Citizen Feedbak and 500 marks for Independent Observation.

Quality Council of India that conducted the survey during January-February this year deployed 421 assessors for on the site inspection of cleanliness in 434 cities and towns and another 55 for real time monitoring of progress of survey and field inspections.

Field inspectors used geo-tagged devices for collecting evidence in real time of their inspection at 17,500 locations.

Explanation: A railway bridge taller than the Eiffel Tower is being built across the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir and is slated to be ready by 2019.

It will be the world's highest railway bridge. The 1.3 km long "engineering marvel" will connect Bakkal in Jammu's Katra and Kauri in Srinagar.

The arch-shaped 35-metre tall structure is being constructed at a cost of 1,110 crores.

The bridge will be a crucial link that connects the Kashmir valley to the rest of the country, part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project.

Once completed, it will break the record of the 275-metre tall Shuibai railway bridge in China.

The mammoth structure will be made of over 24,000 tonnes of steel and will rise 359 metres above the Chenab bed.

The special blast-proof steel can withstand terror attacks and can resist extremely low temperatures and high wind speeds.

To safeguard the bridge and the train passengers, an aerial ring of security, online monitoring and a warning system will be in place.

India's longest road tunnel between Chenani and Nashri in the state was also flagged off recently.

With the roads in the region being prone to snow and landslides in winter, the Jammu-Srinagar national highway remains blocked for most parts of the season, cutting the Kashmir valley off from the rest of the country.

3) Which country/countries is/are set to create a national online encyclopaedia?

Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, is the new President Designate, CII.

Bharti Enterprises is one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agri and food business, financial services, retail, realty, and communication & media devices.

Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited is the new Vice President of CII.

Kotak is the Co-Chair of the India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP) with Sir Gerry Grimstone as the other Co-Chair.

About Shobana Kamineni

AHEL is Asia’s foremost integrated healthcare organization.

Kamineni helms the Apollo Global Projects Consultancy, which steers the planning, design and execution of new projects.

She also heads Apollo Pharmacy, presently the fastest growing business within AHEL. In addition, Kamineni is Vice-Chairperson of the KEI Group, a diversified logistics, leisure & infrastructure business.

She is an active member of CII and has been a recipient of prestigious national awards for Entrepreneurship and Leadership.

Kamineni holds a B.A. in Economics from Stella Maris College, Chennai and an accelerated Diploma in Hospital Administration from Columbia University, New York.

5) Which scientific organisation has developed India's first indigenous solar hybrid electric car?

Considerations involved the right solar panel to suit the roof top of car, a super-capacitor to meet the high peak current of beyond 100 A level, an integral gear box to augment the performance of the Brushless DC (BLDC) motor.

It also involved control electronics for the battery and solar panel interface and drive electronics for running the motor in a smooth way.

The biggest one of course was the conversion of the internal combustion engine (ICE) based vehicle, which was a Maruti Suzuki Omni, to fit in with the electric motor.

The Brushless motor had to be modified to improve torque

To drive the car, energy was supplied to the vehicle by energy density Lithium ion batteries connected across high power density super-capacitors.

The battery delivered the sustained energy requirement while the super-capacitor supported the peak power demand during high torque conditions.

This arrangement of power sharing helped in enhancing the life of power-restricted batteries.

Energy was supplied to the vehicle by energy density Lithium ion batteries.

A solar panel fitted on rooftop of the car charges the battery by absorbing the sunlight.

How it Works

This electrical energy needed to be converted to mechanical energy to drive the wheels.

This was achieved by integrating an efficient power conversion module between energy system and electric motor.

The usage of a Brushless type motor helped in improving the torque and reducing energy input while also helping in weight savings.

Concerted efforts were made to ensure that the associated safety aspects are not compromised while combining various active subsystems of different behaviour for a focused objective.

Explanation: The Union Cabinet today gave its nod to international status for Vijayawada airport in Andhra Pradesh.

This is as per provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Union minister Arun Jaitley announced.

The act bifurcated the state into Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh.

As a result, the capital Hyderabad as well as the state’s lone international airport situated in the city were transferred to the new state of Telangana.

The decision is in keeping with passenger traffic growth and demands from airlines and Andhra Pradesh government.

The government hopes that the international tag for the airport at Gannavaram near Vijayawada will help improve connectivity to Andhra Pradesh and attract more domestic and international tourists.

Airports Authority of India has undertaken upgrade of requisite infrastructure and facilities for international operations.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated the new transit terminal building at the airport as well.

Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu welcomed the decision and said this will help generate employment for at least 1,150 people.

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 provides that the Centre must examine the feasibility of expanding the existing Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati airports to international standards and take an expeditious decision thereon.

Explanation: India slipped to the fourth position in the ICC Twenty20 International team rankings in the annual update of the rankings by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 1 May 2017.

India dropped two places by having lost six points, giving Pakistan and England an edge to slide higher in the rankings list.

In the updated list, New Zealand retained its top position with 125 points despite dropping two points. England with 121 points climbed up three places to the second position after gaining seven points.

Pakistan too joined England on 121 points after gaining five points but was placed third for being behind England by a fraction of a point.

South Africa with 111 points holds the fifth position.

Australia also moved up one place replacing current ICC World Twenty20 champions West Indies at the sixth position with 110 points.

The teams at the 5th, 6th and the 7th position are separated by just a single point.

The new ranking system ensures that the teams are evaluated more on the basis of their recent form, phasing out the older records.

Going by the new rankings, Australia (host nation) and the next nine highest ranked teams will automatically qualify for the 2020 World T20 Championship, the tournament’s seventh edition.